Lakeside Rooster
by SilverLadyHCG
Summary: Lumina had finally completed her degree in politics. Yes! And she already has a job as mayor! Double yes! But the village is far away, and Lumina has to leave her little sister behind. To top it off, she has never seen nor heard of 'Lake Hen' before. What waits for her in this sleepy country town?
1. Chapter 1

Lakeside Rooster

By SilverLadyHCG

Chapter 1: Big Things Have Small Beginnings

"I can't believe you're actually leaving," says Sephia quietly. "I'm really going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too," I say, adjusting the lock on my suitcase. "Promise me you'll come visit, OK?"

She nods, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "Definitely."

We both pause for a moment before I pull my sister into a hug.

"Don't forget about me," she mummers through her tears.

"Never."

"Now boarding; 11:05 Greenwick to Lake Hen" announces the speaker.

Sephia holds me tighter.

"Hey, hey!" I exclaim, desperately trying to break free. "No tears, remember? I'll write everyday, even when you forget to write back. Now I really need to get on that train!"

Sephia laughs once without humor. "Yeah, sorry. It would be kinda bad if the mayor didn't turn up on the village's founding day."

I smile. "Yes, indeed."

"Last call for 11:05 Greenwick to Lake Hen!"

I pull Sephia in once more.

"I will write back. Everyday." She vows.

I nod, willing my tears not to fall.

She lets go of me and I'm off, rushing towards the platform. I leap James-Bond style through the almost closed doors, suitcase in tow.

Panting, I run to the nearest window and peer outside.

There was my sister, waving frantically as my train pulls away.

I wave back until Sephia becomes nothing but horizon.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'm not sure how long it's been. 4 hours, maybe? I must have fallen asleep. I sit up, yawning loudly as I do. I wonder how much longer it'll be before I arrive?

"Excuse me, do you mind telling me the time?"

I blink suddenly and then sit bolt upright.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Of course, it's-"

I glance at my watch. "3:23."

"Ah, thank you. I don't know what's wrong with this watch. Must be broken or something, huh?"

"Yeah, probably," I say rubbing my eyes.

"Hey, you wouldn't mind me sitting here, would you?"

"Be my guest."

"Thanks! It's always fun meeting nice folks on the train."

I open my eyes slowly at first; I'm still feeling a bit stiff after that long nap. I probably slept funny.

"So what's you name?" The random guy asks.

"Lu-" My eyes finally were working properly. "BAH! MONSTER!" I shriek, leaping up onto my seat.

"Huh?" The beast asks. "Monster? Ha, ha, very funny Midge."

I scramble frantically over my seat and cower behind the cushions. "Stay back! Stay back!"

He frowns. "What, have you never seen a talking cat that walks on his hind legs before, or something?" He chuckles, unnervingly.

"HELP! HELP!" I scream. Where was everyone on this God-forsaken train? Was I still asleep?

He gets up, and moves over to me. "Hey, what's up? I'm not gonna bite!"

"Y-Y-You… can talk" I stutter, frozen in my position and terrified.

"Yeah, I can! Hey, smart girl!" He says, sarcastically.

"B-B-But you're a c-c-cat!"

"Yeah… Wait, do you not... Oh my God…"

I don't say anything. He starts to pace, freaking me out even more.

"I-Is this a dream? Or am I awake?" I ask, not really knowing if I wanted the answer or not.

He looks back at me. Then he reaches above him, into an overhead locker. He fumbles around with something, and for a moment, I think he's going to kill me.

But he doesn't. He closes the locker and approaches me, clutching something in his hand- is that a fortune cookie?

"Here, have this," he says soothingly. He extends a- well, it's not really a hand- paw out to me, offering the cookie. "Don't worry, it won't knock you out or poison you or anything."

I'm still quivering in the corner, absolutely shitting myself, but there's something oddly sincere about this… thing's gesture. I reach out tentatively and snatch the cookie away.

He smiles, pleased. "I guess all this is gonna require some kind of an explanation, huh Midge?"

He waits for answer. I nod, nervously.

"How about you tell me you name? Without freaking out this time though."

I must have inhaled some cocaine fumes before I boarded this train. That's a logical explanation for all this… isn't it?

"Um, L-Lumina" I mumble, attempting to sit up a little straighter.

He smiles. "Cute name. I like it."

"Th-Th-Thanks. It was my mother's."

"Well it's nice to meet you Lumina. I'm Rover." He extends his paw again, I guess expecting me to shake it.

I realize that this is one of those crossroad moments mom always used to talk about when Seph and I were younger. I could either not shake his, um, _paw_, and go back to Greenwick, hopefully boarding the _correct _train to Lake Hen. Or I could shake his paw and find out if I really am high or not.

For some strange reason, I have this instinct to go for the latter.

I shake his paw; it's one of the oddest sensations I've ever felt. If I had to describe it, I would say it was like having two cuddly puppies hug each other over my hand.

Yeah, I'm totally high.


	2. Chapter 2

Lakeside Rooster

By SilverLadyHCG

Chapter 2: Cheer Up

Rover sits down carefully. I can't help but notice that he's wearing argyle- what the hell?

"So, I'm guessing you're the human who got the mayor job in town, yeah?"

He says it so casually (it's actually kinda insulting). Back home, this was a huge deal. To Rover, it just seemed the norm.

"Yes. No. I don't know."

Rover laughs. "You're a funny one. How can you not know if you're mayor or not?"

I chance myself to look into his eyes for a brief second. Big mistake. They were huge and staring straight at me.

"I got the job as mayor in Lake Hen," I say.

Rover blinks and then starts chuckling again. I swear to God, did this guy have laughing-turrets or something?

"What?" I say, more confident than before. This guy seemed relatively harmless; so long as he doesn't come any closer!

"This train-the one you boarded- it's bound for Lake Hen. Don't you check your tickets Midge?"

I frown. _Duh!_ Why hadn't I thought of doing that? I dig in my pockets, wondering seriously how I was outsmarted by a cat.

_Aha! _I pull out my ticket in a flourish and peer at the destination. Sure enough, Lake Hen was printed neatly, right next to the arrival time: 4 O'clock.

"I don't understand," I say quietly. "I was under the impression that I would be the mayor of a village. Not a pet shop…"

It was now Rover's turn to frown. "What do you mean?"

I look at him again. How could he speak English? "When I applied for the job, I saw pictures of the village. There were buildings, houses. Animals can't build things."

Rover looks away.

"And I spoke to a lady on the phone," I continue. "She told me that there are other people living in Lake Hen, so I'll be able to start work right away."

Rover takes a deep breath. "The lady on the phone… Her name didn't happen to be Isabelle, did it?"

I blink. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"Lumina, I think Isabelle might not have been completely honest with you when you applied for this job." Rover says quietly.

"What?"

He shuffles down the seat a little closer. "Lake Hen is a lovely town. The pictures that you saw were accurate; waterfalls, beautiful green grass and a somewhat thriving economy."

_Huh?_ "That's exactly what that la- Isabelle said to me! Those words and everything!"

Rover smiles softly. "It's kinda what we put on tourism posters. You see them all over town. I'm actually the one who's in charge of advertising at the town hall, so it just slipped out. I'm guessing the same went for Isabelle when you spoke on the phone."

"Oh."

"The village is pretty secluded. Not many people know about it. Actually, hardly anyone at all…"

I'm still looking at him, even though he has long since broken eye contact with me. Where is he going with this?

"Our last mayor- mayor Tortimer- held the position in office for many years. We all loved him, but he was getting quite old-"

"_We?_" I start to panic again and begin shifting back quickly into the corner. "Y-you mean to say that there are more talking animals in this town?"

Rover jumps. "Oh God, I'm so sorry. I really should have shifted into that more carefully…"

"Are there?" I ask desperately.

"Look, hang on. Let me fast forward a bit in this old story of mine. I swear you'll know everything before we get off this train."

_Christ, I hope there's a shrink in this town._ "OK."

Rover looks relieved. "The town started to fall apart as Tortimer got older. He started forgetting things and never paid me or Isabelle on the right day."

He started to look sad. "There are a couple of tropical islands just off the coast of Lake Hen. They're just lovely and are home to my friend Kapp'n and his-"

"Please, just get on with it!" I say, rapidly losing my patience.

"Oh, of course, sorry…" he says. "Long story short, shops started to close and we were in pretty big debt. He had to go, so Isabelle and I told Tortimer that he had to go away while we counted the ballots from the recent election. We shipped him off to the island and never called him back." Rover looks remorseful now, and I start to feel guilty about forcing him to hurry his story.

"I'm sorry." I mumble silently.

He shakes his head. "It's fine, it's fine."

There's a long pause before Rover starts to speak again.

"In our village, being mayor is kinda like a birth right. Tortimer's father was mayor and so were his grandfather and great grandfather… It's how we stop the secret of our village from getting out into the real world."

I look up. "What's the secret?"

Rover meets my gaze. "How we live forever."


End file.
